SEGOU, Mali (AP)  American planes transported French troops and equipment to Mali, a U.S. military spokesman said Tuesday, as Malian and French forces pushed into the Islamist-held north.

Douentza had been held by Islamist rebels for four months, located 190 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of Mopti, the previous line-of-control held by the Malian military in Mali's narrow central belt. The Islamist fighters have controlled the vast desert stretches of northern Mali, with the weak government clinging to the south, since a military coup in the capital in March last year unleashed chaos.

French and Malian troops arrived in Douentza Monday to find that the Islamists had retreated from the town, said a resident, Sali Maiga.

...

The U.S. Air Force has flown five C-17 flights into Bamako, delivering more than 80 French troops and 124 tons of equipment thus far in an ongoing airlift operation, Pentagon press secretary George Little said Tuesday. He said the U.S. is still considering a French request for U.S. aerial refueling support.

The French military lacks heavy-lift military transports like the C-17. All they have are light or medium ones. Hence why they asked the British and Canadians to loan their C-17s to the effort in Mali, and had to lease Antonov-124s from Russia.

Sun Tse might have said "The wise general does not have to depend on a third country to carry his troops to battle while fighting someone else's civil war. This is a sign that he works for an incompetent ruler."

The French have spent eleven years in Afghanistan and lost 86 men fighting our war by our side. Feel free to question their judgement in getting involved in African wars but I think it’s time to retire the “French = chicken” jokes.

I don’t have a problem with us providing them heavy airlift capabilities to send troops to Mali. They are in reality doing all the heavy lifting there. If they need some support from us like this, not a big deal IMO.

As for those who want to bash French troops, I would suggest you visit the Arc De Triomphe around 6:00 PM one evening. That’s about the time when they (daily) have a ceremony complete with a marching band and veterans carrying flags and they place a wreath at the eternal flame. It may be going against code, but in my experience, the French are very patriotic people and support the military.

“The French have spent eleven years in Afghanistan and lost 86 men fighting our war by our side. Feel free to question their judgement in getting involved in African wars but I think its time to retire the French = chicken jokes.”

i agree. yes they screwed the pooch big time in 1940 but they defended paris in 1914 and we didn’t do any better in vietnam than they did. we lost the capital in the war of 1812 and were so pathetic in that war it was laughable, except for some frigate actions where our 44+ gun frigates beat up a bunch of british 28 gun frigates.

23
posted on 01/22/2013 1:06:33 PM PST
by bravo whiskey
(People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.)

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